WASHINGTON -- Say this much for the Nets: Each night, they devise new and imaginative ways to get blown out.

This one was especially creative, because they were shooting 56 percent as a team early in the fourth period, Jason Kidd had a triple-double, Vince Carter scored 30 and shot a high percentage, and they were still hammered by 15.

In other words, if they ever remember to bring their defense along one of these nights, they may be able to compete.

This time, three solid quarters were wasted as the Washington Wizards rolled them for 62 points in the second half on their way to a 104-89 rout of the Nets at Verizon Center.

"We were leading at halftime. So maybe that was something new for us," said Kidd, who put up 13 points, 10 boards and 13 assists for the 92nd triple-double of his career. "But you still got to get stops. We didn't do that tonight."

The most confused fellow in the room was a petulant Richard Jefferson, who had his first bad game of the season. On the same night the Wizards were rewarded with 36 free throw attempts, the league's leader at drawing whistles didn't go to the line a single time, other than to convert a technical foul.

He had nine points, which dropped his scoring average -- the third-best in the NBA -- almost an entire point, from 25.9 ppg to 25.1.

And that wasn't the most glaring part of his ledger: He shot 4-for-12 in 42 minutes, and had more turnovers (five) than rebounds (two) or assists (three).

"Didn't get the benefit of the doubt at any point in time tonight," Jefferson said. "You look for consistency. A person that's known around this league for consistently attacking the basket, night in and night out, doesn't shoot any, and the opposing team shoots 20 more than you do ..."

It capped a weird weekend for the Nets' leading scorer. He had expressed his frustration with his team's dysfunctional play on Friday, then innocently made some loopy, desperate suggestions after Saturday's practice (such as playing the entire first quarter in a zone), which nobody took seriously.

Then he noticed that the press, in fact, took him very seriously -- some imaginative interpretations said it was a sign of Lawrence Frank not being proactive enough to reverse the ongoing, 5-11 slide. So by yesterday's shootaround, he and his coach had a chinwag to convince the world they can still tolerate each other.

"Now I'm answering questions like there's some kind of controversy," Jefferson spat. "Let's not turn this into 'I don't think other people are doing what they're supposed to do,' or 'The coaches aren't.' No, that's bull. We're in this together."

Frank, who thought the whole thing was fatuous to discuss at length, said, "I didn't take it as a personal hit. We know we need to do better and we're all responsible."

And for a while there -- when they were actually defending -- they did better.

With Boki Nachbar (19 points, seven boards) as the catalyst, there was a 30-9 avalanche bridging the first two quarters to reverse the obligatory double-digit deficit, and it put the Nets in a very good frame of mind at halftime -- even though Jefferson had managed only six points by then.

They took a 48-42 lead into the third, but the Wizards got into the bonus early, mostly by winding up Caron Butler (28 points), Antawn Jamison (22 points) and DeShawn Stevenson (12 points) and getting them to attack the rim.

Their penetrations were rewarded by Dick Bavetta's crew, and though there were nine lead changes in that third period, Washington's astonishing 17-for-18 from the line was enough to provide the Wiz with a 78-72 edge entering the fourth.

The Nets were within 80-76 just two plays into the fourth period, but that's when their offense essentially called it a night. Over the next 5:12, they managed but one free throw, while missing seven shots and committing a pair of turnovers. With Butler abusing Nachbar, Jefferson and Antoine Wright, the Wiz lead had ballooned to 92-77 by the 6:35 mark.

"They were the aggressors in the second half, there's no doubt about it," Frank said. "Again, we have to make a commitment to guard. We played maybe 10 to 12 minutes of good defense. You're not going to play great for 48, but we have to play a whole lot better for longer stretches to win."